I am officially a "soccer mom"!

Soccer season is here! Jacey has been looking forward to this for a long time, especially since she knew she was going to be on her friend Hannah's team. We've had a lot of fun going to her games. Dan and I have enjoyed learning the "rules" of parents at the games, which include:
1. Cheering for anyone and everyone on the field, no matter what team they're on.
2. Cheering for EVERY goal scored. (see rule #1)
3. Use each girl's name at least once while cheering, along with a lot of "Go Team Lightning!"
It's so fun to see how excited each of the girls get when they have the attention of so many adults. Jacey's face lights up every time she hears her name.

We are now into week 3, and here are the highlights of the season so far....






Week one: Jacey's team (Team Lightning, in the green uniforms (she's #6)) plays "The Pretty Ponies" in the pink uniforms. When we first got there, I was afraid that she would be sad that the other team had the cuter uniforms, since she LOVES pink. Their team won 25-2 (if you count the 2 goals that the other team scored after missing the goal, going out of bounds, and turning it back around to put it in the goal. All of us parents convinced the teenage ref to ignore the minor detail of the out-of-bounds thing and just give it to them:) Jacey was thrilled in her first soccer game ever (the rest of the girls have played for one season already) to score TWO GOALS! Way to go Jacey! I asked her when we got home if the team uniform/name thing made her sad at all, and here was her response: "No way Mom! Pink is prettier than green, and pretty ponies are more fun than lightning, but lightning is WAY faster than ponies, and that's why we won!"

Jacey relaxes with her biggest fan during halftime.

Jacey runs "fast as lightning!"

Week 2: After a slight oversight on my part (I got home from my long run last Saturday with about 10 minutes to shower and for us to be out the door on our way to Jacey's game) I didn't check my email to make sure her game was still on, even though they told us to. With Hurricane Ike, they thought that games might get cancelled. It was a BEAUTIFUL morning, so I assumed that everything would still be on as planned. Of course, when we got to the fields all we saw was a big empty parking lot. So, we decided to take a quick picture of Jacey in her uniform and then play a quick family soccer game. It was so much fun! My favorite part was watching Jacey try to teach Broden what to do. It was great! Another advantage to her team name, is that it helps me out SO much at home! If I need her to hurry and finish dinner, get her shoes on, etc... (since she tends to get distracted sometimes), all I have to say is, "Can you do it as fast as lightning?" She then gets her arms going and runs as fast as she can to whatever she has to do.

Week 3: No pictures this week. Dan was at a seminar, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to use my camera and keep Broden off of the field (a daunting task) all at the same time. I honestly am not sure if her team won or not. I'm thinking no, because the other team definately knew what they were doing a lot more than "The Pretty Ponies". The highlight for me was Jacey's goal. On the first play of the game, Jacey got the ball and took it down the field and with the most powerful kick I've ever seen her do, put it right in the goal.....well, the other team's goal. That's ok. She doesn't know, and she doesn't care. All she knows is that she got another goal. I must admit, I kind of give her credit for it too. All of us adults may have known that she was going the wrong way, but NO ONE on the field did. Not her, her teammates, or the other team. So she still took the ball down the field with other (quite aggressive, might I add) girls trying to take it from her. Pretty impressive if you ask me!

We love soccer season. Many more (entertaining, I am sure) stories to come!